Music Quizzes : NPR

Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley pauses mid-performance to marvel at his own impressive tats. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, For Oct. 2

October 2, 2015 • It's Name That Tune for especially careful listeners: Hear a series of drum fills and match them to the songs.

To mark the first day of fall, try this autumn music puzzler. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

All Songs Considered

Autumn Serenade: The Fall Music Puzzler

September 23, 2015 • Do your musical tastes change with the turning of autumn leaves? Try this fall music quiz filled with songs of wistful introspection.

Drum Fill Friday, With Son Lux's Ian Chang

Ian Chang. Magdalena Komorowska, Music Interruption hide caption

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Magdalena Komorowska, Music Interruption

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, With Son Lux's Ian Chang

September 18, 2015 • This week, our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, features a selection of fills handpicked by drummer Ian Chang. Hear the fill and match it to the song.

New York Philharmonic principal bassoonist Judith LeClair acknowledges applause at a concert at Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Chris Lee/New York Philharmonic hide caption

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Chris Lee/New York Philharmonic

Deceptive Cadence

Honk And Purr: The Big Bassoon Puzzler

September 9, 2015 • The principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, Judith LeClair, wonders if you can identify a few significant solos in the history of her instrument.

Drummer Joey Waronker stares down his own kit during a live performance with the band Atoms For Peace. John Shearer/Getty Images hide caption

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John Shearer/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, For Sept. 4

September 4, 2015 • It's "Name That Tune" for careful listeners: Hear a series of drum fills and see if you can match them to the right song.

Drum Fill Friday, With Shaun Fleming Of Foxygen And Diane Coffee

Sparing no flair, Shaun Fleming performs with Foxygen. He's also known as the frontman for the band Diane Coffee. Amy Harris/Corbis hide caption

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Amy Harris/Corbis

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, With Shaun Fleming Of Foxygen And Diane Coffee

August 21, 2015 • Our special guest picks the fills. You match them to the right song. Simple as that.

Mick Fleetwood getting it done with Fleetwood Mac during a 2013 performance Bob King/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob King/Redferns/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

August 7, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of fills handpicked by All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton. Hear the drum fill and match it to the song.

Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney during a 2013 performance Mark Spowart/Demotix/Corbis hide caption

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Mark Spowart/Demotix/Corbis

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday Returns, For July 24

July 24, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners is back with a new set of drum fills. See how many you can match to the right song.

Illustration by Claire O'Neill/NPR

The Record

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

June 2, 2015 • A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

The members of Sō Percussion will bang on almost anything. Janette Beckman hide caption

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Janette Beckman

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

May 22, 2015 • This week's Drum Fill Friday guest quizmasters are from the internationally acclaimed ensemble Sō Percussion. Hear the fill and match it to the piece.

Purple's Hanna Brewer laying down the party-rock beats. Roger Ho/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Roger Ho/Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

May 15, 2015 • This week's Drum Fill Friday comes from Guest Quizmaster Hanna Brewer, drummer for the Texas party-rock group Purple. Hear the fill and match it to the song.

Flower Songs: A Springtime Opera Puzzler

Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili sings amid a massive field of poppies in a Metropolitan Opera production of Borodin's Prince Igor. Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera hide caption

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Cory Weaver/Metropolitan Opera

Deceptive Cadence

Flower Songs: A Springtime Opera Puzzler

May 6, 2015 • In the old poem, it's April showers that bring May flowers. But in opera, flowers pop up for a variety of reasons — not all of them pretty.

Steve Gadd performs live in 1980. Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

May 1, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners this week features a selection of fills handpicked by All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton. Hear the drum fill (or intro) and match it to the song.

Drum Fill Friday, With Cayetana's Kelly Olsen

Kelly Olsen at the kit for the Philadelphia-based rock trio Cayetana, performing at NPR Music's CMJ music festival show. Loren Wohl/for NPR hide caption

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Loren Wohl/for NPR

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, With Cayetana's Kelly Olsen

April 24, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of fills handpicked by Kelly Olsen, drummer for the band Cayetana. Hear the fill (or intro) and match it to the song.

Drum Fill Friday, With Jess Gowrie Of Happy Fangs

Happy Fangs drummer Jess Gowrie, getting it done. Jen Cash/Calibree Photography hide caption

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Jen Cash/Calibree Photography

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, With Jess Gowrie Of Happy Fangs

April 17, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of fills handpicked by Jess Gowrie, drummer for the band Happy Fangs. Hear the fill and match it to the song.

Pete Robertson of The Vaccines luigi Orru/Demotix/Corbis hide caption

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luigi Orru/Demotix/Corbis

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

April 10, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of fills handpicked by Pete Robertson, drummer for the band The Vaccines. Hear a fill and match it to the song.

Drummer face of the week, courtesy Grant Hutchison of the band Frightened Rabbit Brian Patterson/Getty hide caption

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Brian Patterson/Getty

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday, For April 3

April 3, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of drum fills handpicked by All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton. Hear the fill and match it to the song.

Test your wits against these musical pranksters. Douglas Grundy/Getty Images hide caption

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Douglas Grundy/Getty Images

All Songs Considered

Can You Name That Musical Prank?

March 31, 2015 • Simple schemers — or criminal scammers? Try and identify the makers of musical mischief in our April Fools' puzzler.

Eagles drummer and singer Don Henley takes it to the limit during a 1975 concert. Neal Preston/Corbis hide caption

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Neal Preston/Corbis

All Songs Considered

Puzzler: Name That Drum Fill

March 13, 2015 • Our recurring series for careful listeners, this week featuring a mix of drum fills handpicked by All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton. Hear the drum fill (or intro) and match it to the song.

Latvian bass-baritone Egils Silins portrays The Flying Dutchman, one of opera's most disturbing bachelors, in Orange, France in 2013. Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

The Bachelors Of Opera

March 5, 2015 • There are plenty of single men in opera, but would you really want to date them? Try separating the dudes from the duds in this puzzler.

Drummer Steve Jordan is this week's guest Quizmaster. Buck Lewis hide caption

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Buck Lewis

All Songs Considered

Drum Fill Friday With Steve Jordan

February 27, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners features this week a selection of drum fills handpicked by Steve Jordan. Hear the fill and match it to the song.

Drumming is a lot of work. Just ask Paul Mazurkiewicz of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse Chris Loomis/Press Line Photos/Corbis hide caption

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Chris Loomis/Press Line Photos/Corbis

Drum Fill Friday

Drum Fill Friday, For Feb. 20

February 20, 2015 • Our recurring puzzler for careful listeners, this week featuring a selection of drum fills handpicked by All Songs Considered co-host Robin Hilton. Hear the fill (or intro) and match it to the song.

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